Passion Novel - Volume 4 - Chapter 94

It was the middle of summer, which wasn’t ideal. On top of that, this year was unusually hot, with talk of abnormal weather. Even now, the light pouring down from above was so intense that it felt like he might get dizzy. Jeong Taeui sighed, his head hot even as he walked only in the shade. Not to mention his ankle was throbbing. He had refused Kyle’s offer of a car that morning, thinking the hospital wasn’t that far, but now he regretted it a little…But even if he were to say it again now, he’d probably still refuse. Despite the heat, the hospital was only about a 20-minute walk away.

After going to the hospital, having his cast removed and a new one applied, Jeong Taeui limped back, sighing. It was his fault for causing the problem. He shouldn’t have tried to throw Moro into the pool.…But if he had listened to that incessant babbling nonsense any longer, his head would have gone crazy.

He had changed his clothes after getting out of the pool, but there was no way to change his cast. It was soaked, but he thought it would be fine if he just dried it well. He tried drying it in the sun for a while, then vaguely remembered being told to dry things made of plaster or clay in the shade during art class in elementary school, ages ago, and quickly moved his foot into the shade.

By evening, the cast was more or less dry. It felt damp and sticky inside, but it wasn’t too strange. He thought it would be fine to just leave it as it was, without the hassle of removing and reapplying the cast. That thought changed this morning. To be precise, Jeong Taeui didn’t change his mind; Rita forcibly corrected it.

‘Doesn’t the house smell? Furthermore, wearing something that was thoroughly soaked is unhygienic. Go to the hospital and get a new one right away.’

That’s what Rita had said sharply the moment she woke Jeong Taeui, who was sleeping face down on the bed. Jeong Taeui, who had been sleeping soundly only to be woken by a blow and stared blankly up at Rita, only then realized that his foot smelled a bit. It was soaked, and it was summer, to boot. Considering that people are usually oblivious to their own scent, if he could smell it on himself, it must have been quite pungent to others.

Scratching his head, he changed his clothes and went to the dining room for breakfast, where Kyle, Moro, and a new face he had seen for the first time yesterday were seated. Come to think of it, though the guests always changed, the number remained fairly consistent. Was this perhaps a reservation-only lodging?

As he sat down in his usual spot, Moro, next to him, suddenly winked and grinned.

‘I could hear it all the way in my room. They said your cast smells. Heh heh, you’ll have to go to the hospital to change it. They say it’s ridiculously hot today, so you’ll have a tough time dragging your sore leg to the hospital and back.’

Then Kyle, who had been talking to the new face, turned around and kindly offered, ‘That sounds difficult. I’ll tell Peter, so you can take the car.’

Jeong Taeui twisted his good foot behind him and gently stepped on Moro’s foot, who was sitting on the opposite side, then waved his hand with a smile to Kyle.

‘No, it’s close. I can get there quickly on foot, really. I’ll just consider it exercise.’

‘Alright, but I’ll tell Peter anyway. If you change your mind, just tell him anytime.’

“Yes, thank you,” Jeong Taeui said with a smile, subtly removing his foot from Moro’s twitching instep. Looking at the kind, generously smiling landlord, Jeong Taeui suddenly recalled what Moro had said yesterday.

—He even threatened to die and slit his wrist in this house’s bathroom. …He didn’t give it to him.

Thinking about it again, Moro was truly a handful. But what was surprising was Kyle. Of course, he had subtly sensed that Kyle had a cold, sharp side. To lead a company of that scale at such a young age, still in his 40s, he couldn’t possibly be as gentle and kind as he appeared now. Moreover, falling for such childish threats as Moro claimed was absurd. However, perhaps because he had never shown Jeong Taeui that side before, it felt unexpected.

Well, setting everything else aside, being friends with his uncle for over 20 years said it all.

Jeong Taeui tore off a piece of bread and bit into it, thinking a thought that his uncle might get angry about if he heard it.

‘Speaking of which, Moro.’

Moro, who was gnawing on a piece of bread next to Jeong Taeui, looked up when Kyle called him. Moro, who had been agonizing all night about ‘how to get that child, how to achieve our love,’ looked haggard as if he had stayed up all night. Yet, when Kyle called him, he turned with expectant eyes, even though he knew it was impossible.

He’s a pervert, but seeing him look with such puppy-like eyes makes me feel a little sorry for him…

Jeong Taeui thought, chewing his bread. Then he glared at Moro. He didn’t particularly like spreading butter on bread, so he didn’t need butter, but Moro had preemptively hugged the butter to himself. It was a childish gesture, more like ‘you can’t eat this’ than fear of having it snatched away.

Eat it all yourself. And get a plump butt from it.

Jeong Taeui snorted and tore off another piece of bread. And demonstratively ate it deliciously. However, the next moment, the bread he was eating got stuck in his throat.

‘Someone who was at the UNHRDO Asia branch until recently, do you happen to know a Jeong Taei?’

Cough, that was all he could manage not to make a sound.

Suddenly, the bread completely blocked his throat, suffocating him. Jeong Taeui, with all his might, maintained a calm expression and subtly picked up the water glass. And quickly swallowed the water, washing down the bread stuck in his throat. Feeling the sensation of the lump of bread slowly descending his esophagus for a moment, Jeong Taeui looked at him curiously, pretending to be interested in the unfamiliar topic. He was actually very curious. Why did Kyle suddenly mention his name? Moro stopped spreading butter on his bread, blinked blankly, then slowly turned to Jeong Taeui.

You clueless idiot, why are you looking at my face there!

Jeong Taeui shouted internally, staring intently at Moro. ‘Huh? Why?’ he whispered, tilting his head as if curious. Then Moro nonchalantly offered the butter dish.

‘No… here, you’ve been looking like you’re dying to eat it for a while now. —Ah, who was it? Jeong Taei? Ah. I know him. He wasn’t on my team, so I only know his face and name, though.’

Moro calmly handed the butter dish — with not even half a teaspoon left — to Jeong Taeui and turned his head back to Kyle.

Jeong Taeui pretended to spread the meager butter on his bread, trying to calm his churning heart. Still, Moro didn’t seem to intend to clumsily break Jeong Taeui’s cover here, nodding appropriately and answering Kyle’s words smoothly.

‘That young man, was there anything peculiar or unusual about him?’

‘Well… I’m not good with rumors. But judging from the fact that I didn’t hear anything special, he seemed unremarkable. If I had to pick something different from other members, it would be that he’s Instructor Jeong Changin’s nephew? Oh right, he’s Researcher Jeong Jaei’s younger brother, but that guy was very ordinary. So much so that you’d doubt he was the brother of that rumored genius, he also had a stupid side, a terrible temper, and didn’t appreciate guns…’

His voice, rattling on, gradually became tinged with personal feelings. Jeong Taeui chewed his bread with a bitter taste in his mouth.

But why was Kyle suddenly asking about him? More precisely, he was probably trying to find out about the human Jeong Taeui who was at UNHRDO, not Kim Youngsoo who was here. If it was Jeong Taeui from UNHRDO, then Kyle probably knew the same information Moro knew. No, he’d know it better than Moro. Family relations, age, alma mater, and so on. So Kyle probably wasn’t interested in that. However, Kyle didn’t seem too serious, as if the thought had just occurred to him, nodding nonchalantly, then thought for a moment and asked again.

‘I heard that young man was Ilay’s cadet… Did he have any trouble with his brother?’

‘Well, I don’t know about personal matters, but professionally, there was nothing to say. On the contrary, everyone said he endured well even under that madman… —Ah, I apologize, I mean, Rick’s peculiar personality.’

Moro, with a calm face, called Ilay a madman in front of his brother — judging by how calmly and clearly he pronounced “madman” before apologizing, it might not have been a mistake; Moro was quite a character himself — and shook his head.

‘Other than that, well, I haven’t heard anything at all, so I wouldn’t know,’ Moro added nonchalantly, continuing his meal. And next to him, Jeong Taeui felt a little grateful. Still, he was keeping his promise not to talk about Jeong Taeui elsewhere. Even if it was because of those beauties hidden all over his room. Jeong Taeui, pretending not to know, ambiguously asked as he cut into the freshly steamed fish.

‘It seems like something’s going on with your brother, doesn’t it?’

Kyle frowned slightly and shook his head.

‘I don’t know why, but that guy has been badgering the company to find someone for a while now. He seems to be looking through other intelligence agencies besides our company, but he won’t answer when I ask him why. He just tells me to find them, darn it. And their whereabouts are unknown.’

‘So I asked if Moro, who was in the same branch, might know,’ Kyle added with a smile, and Jeong Taeui returned his smile, saying, ‘I see.’

He felt Moro’s subtle gaze next to him. What on earth did you do and run away? That was the look. Jeong Taeui stubbornly pretended not to know. Then, when the gaze showed no sign of disappearing, he looked at Moro again, smiled, and whispered, ‘Huh? Why?’ Only then did Moro reluctantly turn his head. What did I do and run away? I tied him up, attacked him, slapped him, cursed at him, and ran away.

It would be great if he could say that, but he couldn’t, even if his mouth were torn. The thought that Ilay would appear behind him the moment he said it overwhelmed him.

“Besides… it’s not something you can tell others, that you hit someone and ran away.”

Jeong Taeui sighed and muttered.

Before he knew it, the house was just ahead. Walking this hot road with a limping leg felt like it would never end, no matter how much time passed, but all endurance has an end. Jeong Taeui limped, leaning on his crutch, comforting himself that his recovery was fast, so he’d be comfortable again if he just endured a little longer. The hospital also said he’d be fully recovered before the summer ended.

Then, perhaps, it would be time to go look for his brother. The period he had initially told his uncle would be long past, but now it wasn’t because of a promise with his uncle. Jeong Taeui himself wanted to meet his brother. He had a feeling that his brother might suddenly return home first, but it was better to go looking than to sit and wait.

Jeong Taeui thought he should stay quietly at home, reading books until his ankle healed, and steadily moved his steps towards the gradually approaching house.

Then he suddenly tilted his head. A car was approaching from the other side of the alleyway beside Kyle’s mansion. This alley was a neat road where two or so cars could comfortably pass, but it wasn’t very wide. However, since there were only a few spacious mansions scattered about, traffic jams were rare. He had once heard, while talking to the gardener about something else, that the road had been completely blocked and chaotic when the owner of a nearby house died and a funeral was held.

It was daytime on a weekday now. Not a single car was visible passing by. In the midst of that, a car was approaching from the front of the road.

Jeong Taeui instantly thought, That’s strange.

The car had been parked at the end of the road until a moment ago. He hadn’t paid much attention, but he didn’t recall seeing anyone get out or get in there. The car, which had been parked, started to move as Jeong Taeui approached the house. It could have been a simple coincidence.

However, as the car gradually approached, his suspicion deepened. It was a silver van. The van, spacious enough for five or six people and with considerable luggage space in the back, had completely blacked-out windows, making it impossible to see inside.

It looks like a celebrity’s car, but something feels strange, Jeong Taeui thought, tilting his head and wondering what it was, when he realized it the moment his eyes met the man in the driver’s seat. The man was looking at Jeong Taeui. The man in the passenger seat next to him was also, and they weren’t exchanging any words.

“…!”

Jeong Taeui realized it at that moment. That car was coming towards him. It wasn’t just a passing car; it was clearly approaching with Jeong Taeui as its target.

This isn’t good. That thought flashed through his mind. First of all, the look in the eyes of those men staring at him was unsettling. They were cold, without a hint of a smile. It definitely didn’t look like they were approaching with good intentions. Jeong Taeui clicked his tongue. And then he started running. The moment his crutch-supported foot hit the ground, his ankle, bearing his weight, hurt as if it would break. A groan escaped his lips involuntarily. But this was no time to hesitate.

Jeong Taeui’s thought was not wrong. The car, which had been coming from the opposite side of the road, crossed the center line and approached the sidewalk where Jeong Taeui was. And the car stopped a little ahead of the direction Jeong Taeui was running, and the man in the passenger seat got out.

“Who are you guys?!”

Jeong Taeui swung his crutch at the head of the man who reached out to grab him. Thwack! The man staggered back, clutching his head. In that gap, Jeong Taeui ran again.

He didn’t know who they were. Nothing like this had ever happened before. When he was very young, he was sometimes in danger of being kidnapped because of his brother, but nothing like this had happened since he came of age.

These men were targeting him. He didn’t know their purpose. Whether they intended to kill him, or kidnap him. But with that vehicle and that behavior, it was ten to one the latter. If it was kidnapping, why?

Ilay?!

That thought suddenly flashed through his mind. But he immediately shook his head. Ilay was not the kind of person to do something like this. If Ilay had planned it, Ilay himself would have gotten out of that car. Then why? Who? Why?

“Wait, maybe you’ve got the wrong person?! I’m just an ordinary person! I have no money! My family is poor!”

Damn it, or did they see me coming out of Kyle’s house and think I was part of the family? So they want to extort money from a rich family… But when planning a crime, they usually take some time to investigate. What are the chances of a European and an East Asian being family? That possibility is out.

Then the remaining possibility is… his brother?

That possibility seemed the most likely. Although Jeong Taeui didn’t know where his brother was or what he was doing now, his brother had always clung to his life. Hadn’t he almost been kidnapped several times because of his brother when he was young? He thought it wouldn’t happen now that he was an adult, but who knew? They might try to use a family member as leverage to threaten someone.

However, he didn’t have time to think for long. Behind the man staggering from the crutch blow, three more men rushed out of the car. Jeong Taeui looked back at Kyle’s mansion. Although it was visible in the distance, it was impossible to outrun them and run there with his current leg. Moreover, shouting wouldn’t be heard. But he couldn’t just let himself be caught quietly by unknown men who were aggressively charging at him.

“What are you, guys?! You’ve got the wrong person! Whoever you’re targeting, it’s not me! Do you know me?!”

He hit one more person with his crutch, knocking him down. But the man who had been staggering earlier joined the attack, and the other two circled behind Jeong Taeui. One of them mercilessly kicked Jeong Taeui’s casted ankle. A scream burst out involuntarily. It was a good thing he had the cast on; otherwise, it would have hurt so much that his vision would have gone black.

He blindly bit the hand of the man who grabbed his arm from behind. The man’s rough scream reached Jeong Taeui’s ears as he bit down as if to tear off flesh. At the same time, another man hit Jeong Taeui’s head. In the shock, he lost his grip on the man’s hand he was biting. Both his mouth and the man’s hand were bloody.

“Wh-what… you… got the wrong… person…”

Jeong Taeui muttered haltingly with a gasping groan. At that moment, the man who had been hit first with the crutch came forward.

“That’s right. You don’t know. It doesn’t matter who you are. We don’t even know who you are.”

His face contorted, he approached and spoke in a rough voice, spitting out blood-tinged saliva as if his mouth had been torn when he was hit earlier, then powerfully uppercut Jeong Taeui’s chin. His vision instantly blurred. It felt like a mild concussion.

“We don’t know who you are, but you’re Kyle Riegrow’s guest, staying at his house for over ten days. A guest of Kyle Riegrow, who cherishes everyone who visits his home.”

Even if you’re not that important, it’s fine, because you’re not the only one, the man muttered. But the last part barely registered in his consciousness.

As Jeong Taeui’s vision spun, he frowned and tried to clear his blurry sight when a wet towel was placed over his nose. The strong smell of medicine emanating from the towel made Jeong Taeui frown. Damn it, this is the same trick I used recently, but unlike that monster, I can’t stay conscious for long. That was his last thought.

Soon, his consciousness faded, and darkness enveloped him.

His head ached. The first sensation he registered upon waking was a headache. The moment he recognized the throbbing pain in his head, like a pulsing heartbeat, he opened his eyes. But before his eyes could register objects, he retched and curled up.

His stomach was nauseous, and he felt like vomiting. He retched three, four times in a row. No vomit came out. Sour stomach acid rose to the back of his throat, but that was all. Soon, the retching stopped.

“Damn it… Luther, medicine…”

Jeong Taeui muttered, clutching his head. In his hazy mind, he thought, Ah, to find Luther, I need to go to the infirmary. His stomach still felt queasy. Luther would be angry if he asked for both headache medicine and stomach medicine.

“Would you like some water?”

It was an unfamiliar voice. With that voice, something soft touched his lips. And water flowed from it. Jeong Taeui slowly, little by little, moistened his mouth with the flowing water, and faintly opened his eyes.

His vision spun. The ceiling moved in circles, getting closer and farther away. Jeong Taeui closed his eyes again, waited a moment, then opened them. The ceiling was still spinning, but it seemed better than before. He closed and opened his eyes once more, and it improved further.

He was still dizzy, but he could more or less collect himself, so Jeong Taeui clutched his head. Dizzy and headache… the faint smell of medicine still wafted from his throat.

“Are you feeling a bit more conscious?”

Another voice was heard. Only then did Jeong Taeui collect himself and sit up. Through his throbbing head and dizzy vision, there were four unfamiliar faces.

It wasn’t just the people who were unfamiliar. Jeong Taeui blinked several times and tilted his head. He couldn’t quite understand the situation. It was a room. An empty room. There was one window, but it was boarded up from the outside, so he couldn’t see out. The room, surrounded by wooden walls, wooden floors, and a wooden ceiling, was quite spacious. It seemed to be about five or six pyeong. But there was nothing in that large room.

Except for people.

There were five people in total. All of them were people Jeong Taeui had never seen before. Their ages, races, and probably nationalities seemed all different. They were all sitting, leaning against something in their respective spots, their gazes fixed on Jeong Taeui, who had just woken up.

“Here is…”

Jeong Taeui asked, tilting his head slightly. He couldn’t understand anything. It felt like his previous memories had vanished, and he had been dropped into a new world.